The strange phenomenon in the sky lasted for a few more hours before gradually dissipating, causing the spectating disciples to murmur and express their disappointment.

"Could anything good come so easily? Argh! what was I even expecting?" A disciple who was in the forefront of the crowd muttered, disheartened.

"I just had to waste my precious time all for nothing. With the ranking test approaching, the time I wasted could have been enough for me to comprehend a profound technique," Said another disciple with a solemn expression.

In truth, they had expected something exciting to happen and maybe they could reap some benefits, the thought of this made them willing to wait for hours, but yet reality didn't fail to express its cruelty. Soon, all the disciples started leaving the vicinity one after the other, going different directions, like flocks that had lost their way.

…

Doran who was seated cross-legged noticed that the core ring had stopped absorbing the essence of the demonic star, he then ceased revolving the sacred heart technique and observed the state of the core ring. A few moments later, he let out an astonished expression as he noticed that the core ring had transformed into a mutated form.

In normal situations, the core ring of a sword Dao cultivator at the essence gathering stage was usually bright red, as for his case, his core ring was pitch black and exuded a dreadful pressure. He could feel that the pressure from his core ring was capable of altering the world's principles in a way.

Doran couldn't wait to check out his new abilities, he had absorbed the essence of the demonic star and not the normal essence crystals, so his abilities were bound to be different. He hurriedly took out the essence utilization manual and headed for the training center.

After arriving at the training center, Doran went to the admin office to obtain a training pass. It was three weeks remaining before the ranking test and the whole training center was filled with disciples waiting in a long queue to be attended to by a lady. Doran had to wait in the queue before his turn to book a training room. After about an hour, it was finally his turn.

When the lady noticed him, she didn't bother asking for his preferred choice of the training room, she lazily took out one of the registers and pushed it slowly to him. From her actions, it was obvious that she was familiar with his choice and didn't see the need to waste her time asking him. Doran furrowed his brow after reading the content of the register, which contains a list of available training rooms on the first floor. The Lady seemed to have noticed his attitude and said:

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"What is it? there are a lot of people waiting, just sign it already"

"I need a training room on the second floor " Doran replied with a solemn expression.

The lady stared at him narrow-eyed in disbelief, The training rooms on the second floor were for those who had reached the essence gathering stage, and as far as she knew, the fellow in front of her hadn't broken into that stage, or simply put, had no hope of breaking into that stage.

"D-do you know what you're saying? You haven't rea…"

"Just have it booked Miss Russell"

Doran cut into her statement before she could finish her words, she opened her mouth wanting to say something, but found it hard to utter a single word, at the end, she regained her composure and passed him another register;

"It's five merit points per day"

"I'll take it for ten days"

Doran said as he signed the register, he passed her his token which she deducted fifty merit points from.

"We haven't prepared the room yet, you will have to come back later in the evening to start using it," she said as she handed him a wooden token.

Doran left the administrative center and headed for the profound skill depository.

The profound skill depository was a pavilion where skill manuals were stored for use at the cost of merit points. It had an upper and lower floor, the lower floor contained only low-grade skill manuals and was for outer court disciples, while the upper floor was filled with medium-grade skill manuals for the sole use of inner court and direct disciples.

Doran entered the lower floor to select a skill manual. It was a very large hall with lots of skill manuals arranged in a long row pattern on large shelves. Looking at this massive arrangement, one was bound to be rendered indecisive, but that wasn't the case for Doran. He went to a lone corner of the hall and took a skill manual that was isolated on a shelf. The skill manual looked so primitive and ordinary, and from the dust, it had accumulated one could infer that it hadn't been touched for like a few hundred years, maybe.

[Force Point Actualization] This was the name boldly written on the old manual.

If other disciples were to see him choosing this manual, they would think he must have been crazy. The force point actualization manual was quite known to the disciples of Florin Valley Academy and was rumored to be a high-grade grade skill manual in the past.

According to stories that had been passed down from generation to generation in Florin Valley, the force point actualization technique was one of Galdor's creations, that was gifted to Florin Valley during its era of glory.

'As if we are fools', people always wondered. Who was Galdor? He was the legendary sword saint of the then sword empire.

Among the latter generations, people who attempted to practice it always come back with their testimony, the so-called skill manual said to be gifted by the sword saint turned out to be a piece of trash! No one could achieve minimum success in their cultivation by practicing the technique in the manual. So many acclaimed clever dicks who had dedicated their whole life to unravel the mysteries of the manual, could be described in three words: 'A life wasted'.

This discovery made the people of the present generation greatly doubt and dismissed the thought that such a useless manual would be created by a legendary figure like the sword saint, Galdor.

Doran had his own reasons for choosing the manual, although he also had doubts, he intended to test the abilities of the chivelric eyes, according to the few memories he unlocked from his past life, it was the eye that sees through all things after all. Maybe he could unravel the mysteries in the manual, and that's if there is.